League: Officials’ late mistake helped ODU

About 3 hours after Old Dominion’s women eliminated Troy in a Sun Belt Conference Tournament quarterfinal, the conference issued a statement Friday night saying officials made a major mistake that cost the Trojans in the final seconds.

Leading 84-83 at Pensacola Bay Center, ODU was inbounding the ball in its frontcourt on the sideline. Replays showed that six Monarchs players were inbounds when ODU put the ball into play, though one player quickly moved out of bounds near the ODU bench.

Amari Young broke free for a layup, scoring the final points of ODU’s 86-83 triumph.

According to the Sun Belt’s statement, there was an “incorrect adjudication” of the rules, and the Monarchs should have been assessed a technical foul.

“Pursuant to Rule 10, Section 12, Article 2.f, Troy should have been awarded two free throws, followed by a throw-in at the point of interruption.”

If Troy had made two free throws at that point, the Trojans would have had the lead and the Monarchs probably would have had to foul to stop the clock.

The Sun Belt said the violation “is not included on the list of calls a coach may appeal using replay and had to be recognized before the officials left the visual confines of the playing court.”

In the statement, SBC commissioner Keith Gill said, “I apologize to head coach Chanda Rigby, the Troy women’s basketball student-athletes and the Troy community for the manner in which the end of the game was officiated. No one wants a game to end this way — especially during the postseason.”

The officials will not receive another assignment during the tournament.